Los Angeles Philharmonic

Are we allowed anymore to accept the world in which we live as an excellent place? Can we not marvel at nourishing oceans and dry lands without fear for our future, or find wonder in birds and snakes and fish without wondering about their extinction? May we believe in the musical case for dark chaos resolving into blinding light of reason that Haydn so tantalizingly makes to open his great oratorio, “The Creation”?

Presumably not. Satisfaction is scarce in the dying days of 2016.

On Thursday night, the Los Angeles Philharmonic began its holiday programming at Walt Disney Concert Hall with Haydn’s now all-but-impossibly cheery “Creation,”...

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